Governor Steve Beshear today visited Henderson to announce three economic development projects that will create as many as 47 new jobs and a combined investment of more than $4 million. Accompanied by company and community leaders, Gov. Beshear revealed that American Innovative Metal Solutions will establish a new manufacturing facility, while Henderson-based Sunspring America and Industrial Services and Electronics (ISE) will each expand their existing operations.
Read more here: http://www.northwestky.com/news/governor-beshear-announces-three-job-creation.html
The Kentucky Small Business Administration district office leadership presented the 2010 SBA Micro Lender of the Year Award to Community Ventures Corporation. ‘This is the tenth time in twelve years we’ve been able to recognize this fine organization with this award,’ proclaimed Phillip Danhauer, Kentucky’s SBA Chief of the Finance Division. ‘I want you all to know that CVC does more SBA micro business loans than the state of Texas. And this year looks to surpass last year’s record setting mark. Half way through the first six months of our federal year, Kentucky is at 75% in dollar amount for micro, 504 and 7A loans.’
‘This is not a time to shrink back’, commented Kevin R. Smith, President and CEO of Community Ventures Corporation. ‘This economy and our businesses need loans to move our region and our country forward. Our businesses will grow and thrive with these higher risk loans because of the added training and technical assistance provided. This quality support will guide businesses through these rough times.’
Community Ventures Corporation provides access to SBA loans of up to $50,000 to Kentucky small businesses.
‘We started our company almost thirty years ago with microloans in the forefront’, continued Mr. Smith. ‘We know that small businesses drive our economic success in every city and town in the Commonwealth. We are proud to be part of that success’.
In addition, CVC’s Robert Heil, Director of Small Business Development – Louisville was recognized as a Kentucky’s All Star Lender for 2010.
Date: Monday, March 14 at noon
Location: Chamber Board Room
Topic: What Community Ventures Corp. Can Do For Your Business
Speaker: Sue Gibbens
Cost: Free for Chamber members
Call 826-9531 to RSVP
Patrons should bring their own lunches or call the Chamber office to have lunch arranged for them.
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Kentucky Utilities (KU) Energy LLC announced this week that nearly 60 new jobs will be added in Morganfield, Kentucky. KU is expanding their operations in Western Kentucky, creating an office which will house current operations as well as adding a new customer service call center. The new positions will be in the call center, the company’s fourth but first in Western Kentucky. Currently, KU operates from two locations in Morganfield with a customer service office downtown and a separate operations center, but is consolidating the two with this project.
Read more here: http://www.northwestky.com/news/kentucky-utilities-ground-breaking-in-morganfield-ky.html
Our next SET Training Session is scheduled for Tuesday, 21 December, from 10-2 at the Webster County Extension Office in Dixon. Lunch will be provided.
Rural Development named Northwest Kentucky as one of a dozen pilot regions in their new Stronger Economies Together program. A team from RDA will be working with our region over the next year on implementing REGIONAL strategies, and hopefully, helping us to access some of the 25+ funding programs available through RDA.
The RDA team is very excited to be using the recently released InSite Consulting report as a starting point. While this report focused on three of the four counties, the writers were quick to point out that they believed the recommendations could apply to all four counties.
Congratulations to our entrepreneurship partner, Community Ventures Corp, which was just named Kentucky’s SBA Lender of the Year for the 10th time in the last 12 years! We are proud to partner with CVC as they provide professional consulting as well as Jump Start, Micro, and 504 lending to entrepreneurs here in Northwest Kentucky.
Northwest Kentucky’s greatest obstacle to economic development is a shortage of available industrial buildings, consultants told officials here Tuesday.
“You’re at a desperate disadvantage for buildings,” Ron Cornwell, co-founder of InSite Consulting Inc. of Greer, S.C., told the Northwest Kentucky Forward regional economic development board.
“A large percentage of (industrial) clients are looking for an existing building. I’d say 95 percent say, ‘Go through an existing building search,’ ” Cornwell said.
Cornwell and his business partner, Tonya Crist, outlined a host of ideas to help prepare the area for new industries and job growth, ranging from launching a regional work force training program to providing incentives for entrepreneurs to start new businesses.
Read more from The Gleaner: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/nov/10/region-has-building-deficit-consultants-say-most-p/
This is the third in a series of blogposts from our visit with our sister region in Olomouc, Czech, and participation in meetings and a trade show there.
Interesting discussion last night at dinner. A common theme from the various regions was a desire to focus more on entrepreneurship. Since that is one of our core initiatives at NWKF, I was anxious to discuss the approach of the various regions and see if there were ideas that I could borrow.
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This is the second in a series of blogposts from our visit with our sister region in Olomouc, Czech, and participation in meetings and a trade show there.
Each region made presentations this morning on their approaches to economic development and what their areas had to offer. One of the most important insights that I took away from this was how dramatically different most of our European friends approach economic development compared to the NWKF approach specifically, and the American-approach generally.
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